Scotty Bowman - Adapting To The Modern Game

Bowman worked well with Pittsburgh coach Bob Johnson, who was as upbeat and outgoing as Bowman was aloof and non-communicative. Johnson led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 1991, but the following summer he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Bowman was named interim coach and quickly realized that his demanding, disciplinarian style would not work with a team accustomed to Johnson's positive, laid back, nonconfrontational ways. The game had changed in the two decades since Bowman began his reign with the Canadiens, and he would have to change, as well. "I was aware that if I coached the way I had in the past it wouldn't have had the same results," he said. "I knew I had to be different." In the '92 playoffs, the Penguins won eleven straight games, a post-season record, and claimed their second straight Stanley Cup. It was Bowman's sixth as head coach.